South Korea culls infected poultry flocks

South Korea has slaughtered three percent of its poultry population in reposnse to its bird flu outbreak and culled about 15% of its combined pig and cattle population to contain outbreaks of foot-and-mouth, the country's agriculture ministry has announced.

26 cases of H5N1 avian influenza have now been confirmed, up from 23 cases on Friday. The ministry said 2.1 million animals, mostly pigs, and 3.6 million poultry, mostly chicken, had been culled to be buried.

South Korea confirmed the first case of bird flu on Dec 31 in ducks in the city of Cheonan, South Chungcheong province, and in chickens in the city of Iksan in North Jeolla province.

South Korea, a net importer of beef, pork and poultry meat, found its meat imports jump last month to meet lost local supply due to outbreaks of foot-and-mouth but industry experts said future import gains might be short-lived.